Minor Night Cap: Empire Yanks win, Brett Marshall with a good line, Tyler Austin hits another homerun

Empire State Yankees W 8-2

PTF Romine (DL)

Kevin Russo – 2R, 3BB, .313

Doug Bernier – 1R, 1H, 1BB, 2K, .245

Dewayne Wise – 2R, 1H, 2BB, .369

Jayson Nix – 1R, 1H, 2RBI, 1K, .208

Brandon Laird – 1R, 3H, 1K, .263

Pitching
PTF Dellin Betances (DNP)

Michael O’Connor (W, 1-0) – 5.0IP, 4H, 2R, 2Er, 4K, 1HR, 2.87era

Pat Venditte – 3.0IP, 3H, 3K, 2.77era

Juan Cedeno – 1.oIP, 2H, 1K, 1.54era

Trenton Thunder L 4-3

PTF Zoilo Almonte (DNP)

Abraham Almonte – 2R, 1H, (solo homerun), 1RBI, 1BB, .279

Cody Johnson – 1H, 1RBI, 1K, .254

Yadil Mujica – 1R, 3H, .556

Pitching
PTF Brett Marshall – 7.2IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 6K, 2HR, 3.81era

Francisco Rondon – 0.0IP, 1BB, 6.43era

Ryan Flannery – (BS, 1) (L, 0-1) 0.1IP, 3H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 1.54era

Tampa Yankees L 3-0

PTF J.R. Murphy -1H, 2K, .250

Ramon Flores – 1H, .185

Jose Mojica – 1H, .232

Pitching
PTF Nik Turley (DNP)

Jose A. Ramirez (L, 1-4) 6.0IP, 7H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 4K, 2HR, 6.23era

Rigoberto Arrebato – 2.0IP, 3K, 5.40era

Charleston River Dogs L 12-3

PTF Dante Bichette Jr. 1R, 1H, 1BB, .243

Tyler Austin – 1R, 1H, (3-Run Homer), 3RBI, 2K, .358

Gary Sanchez, 2H (Double), .346

Pitching
PTF Bryan Mitchell (DNP)

Caleb Cotham (L, 2-1) 4.oIP, 8H, 4R, 3Er, 4K, .286era

Brett Gerritse – 3.0IP, 5H, 4R, 4Er, 2BB, 3K, 2HR, 6.00era

Zachary Varce -1.0IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 1K, 4.91era

Yankees Player of the Week | Week 3

This week was a tough one for the Yankees. They finished 2-3 against perhaps the 2 best teams in the AL in Texas and Detroit. If they can win today and take 2 out of 3 against Detroit going .500 against these tough teams is not to bad especially when you consider the horrendous starting pitching the Yankees have had. This is the weakest group of candidates for player of the week so far but I was able to come up with 4 candidates.  They are Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher, and CC Sabathia.

The case for Jeter – This is the 3^rd consecutive Jeter has been nominated for Yankees Player of the Week but he has yet to win as Hiroki Kuroda and Mark Teixeira won the first 2 weeks. This is odd as he has been by far the best player on the Yankees so far this year. Jeter was outstanding against Texas but has been held hitless against Detroit so far. For the week Jeter batted .400 with 1 RBI. His signature game was on Monday when he went 4-5, scored 2 runs, and knocked in a run.

The case for Rodriguez – Rodriguez played a huge role in both of the Yankee wins this week. On Monday against Texas Rodriguez hit a 3 run home run in the 5^th inning that blew the game open. In Friday’s win against Detroit Rodriguez went 3-4, with a HR, and 2 RBI. Overall for the week Rodriguez hit .294, with 2 HRs, and 5 RBI.

The case for Swisher – Swisher best game came yesterday as he tried to lead a Yankees comeback by hitting 2 HR’s. He had a pretty consistent week hitting .300 with 2 HR’s and 3 RBI.  Most weeks Swisher would not be candidate, but this week was not a strong week for candidates.

The case for Sabathia – CC pitched a very good game Monday against Texas. Sabathia let up 2 soft runs in the 7^th that did not make his line look as good as it was. CC did not allow a run from the 2^nd through the 5^th. Sabathia pitched 8 strong innings, allowing 7 hits, 4 runs, and striking out 8. Sabathia did all this against a potentTexas lineup in their hitter friendly ballpark. CC gave the Yankees a great chance to win the series, but the Yankees did not take advantage. The Yankees can use another start like this today against Detroit.

The winner this week goes to Alex Rodriguez as he was a key player in both of the Yankee wins this week. Hopefully Rodriguez can keep it going because Robinson Cano is still struggling and Mark Teixeira has been up and down. It was very close between Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, and Derek Jeter so cast your vote in the poll. Hopefully next week the candidates are a little bit stronger.

Game 21 Lineup: Tigers vs. Yankees

Lineup vs. Tigers:

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Raul Ibanez LF
Eric Chavez DH
Chris Stewart C

CC Sabathia LHP

Start Time: 1:05pm
Field: Yankee Stadium
T.V: YES Network
Radio: WCBS 880

Pregame Notes:

— Girardi said that he either views Mitchell as a starter or as a long-man. There won’t be a decision until Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi talk it over.

Tweets:

Freddy Garcia to Yankees bullpen

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) April 29, 2012

Enjoy the game everyone.

Freddy Garcia goes to bullpen

Freddy Garcia goes to bullpen

By Delia E.

Freddy Garcia’s tenure in the Yankees rotation is officially over as of today. No, he wasn’t released from the team but he was added to the Yankees bullpen. Yankees called up D.J. Mitchell earlier today to add depth to the Yankees bullpen and though not official, it looks as if David Phelps will get to keep the rotation spot warm–until Andy Pettitte comes back.

There is still one issue though; the Yankees still have 26 men on the roster meaning someone has to be sent down to make room for Mitchell. This also isn’t official but it could be Cody Eppley that gets sent down.

Update: Cody Eppley was just optioned to Scranton to make room for Mitchell.

Yankees call up D.J. Mitchell

Yankees call up D.J. Mitchell

By Delia E.

Update #1: According to Andrew Marchand, this could potentially mean that David Phelps is now in the rotation.

Original Post:

https://twitter.com/#!/YankeesPR/status/196596538967994369

David Phelps’s old friend from Triple-AAA will join the Yankees. D.J Mitchell was called up today just a day after Freddy Garcia blew his last start. There was no counter move at the moment but it looks like Girardi really did sleep on his decision. Mitchell is to make his Major League Baseball debut in today’s game. More on who’s off the roster as this story develops.

Tweet:

Yanks have called up D.J. Mitchell for Sundays game. Not sure of the counter move yet.

— Daniel Barbarisi (@DanBarbarisi) April 29, 2012

Morning Bits: Garcia, Gardner, Phelps

Good morning everyone and a Happy Sunday to you all. Yankees are going to try to win the rubber match of a three game set with CC Sabathia on the mound. Here are your morning links.

— Freddy Garcia‘s struggles are a mystery to Joe Girardi and when asked if Garcia will make his next start, Girardi said, “I’ll sleep on it.” Stop sleeping on it. Garcia needs to go.

— Brett Gardner admits after taking 10 dry swings & 15 off the tee, he was nervous to take  batting practice. Well, didn’t it work out well where there was no pain Gardy? Gardy will be just fine. I bet on it.

— I bet when David Phelps found out he made the team coming out of Spring Training, he had no idea that he was going to be used so much coming out of the bullpen. The Daily News believes that David Phelps has earned the right to start a game since Freddy Garcia continues to be ineffective.  In my honest opinion, I think Phelps should have been the 5th starter 2 weeks ago. Did you see how he tamed those Tigers?

Ay Garcia! Garcia implodes as Yanks fall 7-5 to Tigers

NEW YORK – The story tonight wasn’t about the Yankees (11-9) bats falling silent. The story wasn’t even about Nick Swisher hitting 2 HR’s in the game. The story was more about Freddy Garcia imploding once again, as the Yankees fell to the Detroit Tigers (11-10) 7-5 after the Yankees tried to cap a rally in the 9th.

GARCIA IMPLODES–AGAIN: This is not the first time that Freddy Garcia imploded. It’s not the second time that Garcia imploded. It’s not even the third time that Garcia imploded. This is the fourth start in a row that Freddy Garcia imploded. Garcia gave up 6 runs in 1 2/3 innings making it the second time that Garcia was pulled in the 2nd inning. Garcia has struggled mightily and this may be the time to talk about taking Freddy Garcia from the rotation in favor of someone who has been pitching well–maybe–David Phelps. Anyway, Girardi said that he wasn’t going to judge until after 4 starts. I think it’s time to pull the plug Girardi.

BULLPEN WAS FANTASTIC: Clay Rapada, David Phelps & Cody Eppley came out of the bullpen after Garcia was lifted and all 3 of them pitched a terrific job. The bullpen pitched 7 1/3 innings and only allowed 1 run. The most impressive? David Phelps. He pitched 3 scoreless innings, walked no one and gave up no hits. I think it’s time for the David Phelps experiment. Just saying.

GARDNER CLOSE TO COMEBACK: Brett Gardner took batting practice for the first time since injuring his elbow. He had 10 dry swings and 15 swings on the tee. Gardner felt no pain at all in his elbow which is fantastic news for Yankees fans. Gardner thinks that he could do full on batting practice on Monday.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Yankees turn to their ace CC Sabathia in hopes that he could be his regular self and bear down the Tigers. The first pitch is at 1:05pm on YES Network.